Leisure and Learning in African Children’s Literature: The Case of Swati Riddles
The case of Swati riddles
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6697/12779Keywords:
leisure, learning, interplay, riddles, Swati, environmentAbstract
The Swati, like other Africans, use songs, plays, games, taboos, proverbs and riddles to fashion, store, and transmit their cultural values and worldview as well as to socialise citizens. In this article, we use the theory of Afrocentricity to analyse how entertainment and learning are intertwined in Swati riddles, known as tiphicwaphicwano. The tenets of the Afrocentricity theory employed in this study include the need for African literary works to be looked at as appreciated and understood by the participants, returning to Africans the agency they were robbed of through colonialism, and humanising and harmonising humans with nature and the communal nature of African life. Drawing examples from two anthologies on Swati oral lore, Giya Sigiye by Vilakati and Msibi and Swazi Oral Literature by Kamera, and from everyday use, our analysis shows that Swati riddles are a form of art and game largely played by children as they pass time. The game calls for the participation of more than one person; it is played in the form and spirit of competition and, as the children pass time, they also gain cultural knowledge, values, worldview, life skills and an understanding of how to relate with each other and with nature. Overall, Swati riddling sessions interface learning and playing. These findings have a bearing on further research and on how today’s society can socialise its citizens.
References
Amadi, Elechi. 1982. Ethics in Nigerian Culture. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books.
Amadiume, Ifi. 1987. Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in African Society. London: Zed Books.
Asante, Molefi Kete. 1980. Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change. Chicago, IL: African American Images.
Asante, Molefi Kete. 1998. The Afrocentric Idea. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Asante, Molefi Kete. 2007. The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony. New York, NY: Routledge.
Bascom, William R. 1949. “Literary Style in Yoruba Riddles.” The Journal of American Folklore Society 62 (243): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.2307/536851. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/536851
Cadle, Bruce, and Ruehl Muller. 2019. “Colonial Visual Communication Influences in Postcolonial Eswatini: Myth, Tradition and the Cult of Personality.” The International Journal of Visual Design 13 (3): 33–52. https://doi.org/10.18848/2325-1581/CGP/v13i03/33-52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18848/2325-1581/CGP/v13i03/33-52
Chemhuru, Munamato, and Dennis Masaka. 2010. “Taboos as Sources of Shona People’s Environmental Ethics.” Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 12 (7): 121–33.
Chesaina, Ciarunji. 1991. Oral Literature of the Kalenjin. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.
Chiwome, Emanuel Mudhliwa. 1996. A Social History of the Shona Novel. Eiffel Flats: Juta Zimbabwe.
Dlamini, G. D., and G. Garb. 1989. Bekukhona. Manzini: Macmillan Boleswa Publishers.
Finnegan, Ruth. 2012. Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0025
Gray, Cecil Conteen. 2001. Afrocentric Thought and Praxis: An Intellectual History. Asmara: Africa World Press.
Gwaravanda, Ephraim Taurai, and Dennis Masaka. 2008. “Shona Reasoning Skills in Zimbabwe: The Importance of Riddles.” The Journal of Pan African Studies 2 (5): 193–208. http://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol2no5/2.5_Shona_Reasoning_Skills_in_Zimbabwe.pdf.
Gyan, Charles, Eunice Abbey, and Michael Baffoe. 2020. “Proverbs and Patriarchy: Analysis of Linguistic Prejudice and Representation of Women in Traditional Akan Communities of Ghana.” Social Sciences 9 (3): 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9030022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9030022
Gyekye, Kwame. 1996. African Cultural Values: An Introduction. Accra: Sankofa Publishing.
Hamlet, Janice D. 1998. Afrocentric Visions: Studies in Culture and Communication. London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483328386. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483328386
Harries, Lyndon. 1976. “Semantic Fit in Riddles.” The Journal of American Folklore 89 (353): 319–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/539444. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/539444
Harris, Norman. 1998. “A Philosophical Basis for an Afrocentric Orientation.” In Afrocentric Visions: Studies in Culture and Communication, edited by Janice D. Hamlet, 15–25. London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483328386.n2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483328386.n2
Heeren, G. Anita, John B. Jemmott III, Joanne C. Tyler, Sonwabo Tshabe, and Zolane Ngwane. 2011. “Cattle for Wives and Extramarital Trysts for Husbands? Lobola, Men, and HIV/STD Risk Behavior in Southern Africa.” Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment 21 (1): 73–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2011.534903. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2011.534903
Hussein, Jeylan W. 2005. “The Social and Ethno-Cultural Construction of Masculinity and Femininity in African Proverbs.” African Study Monographs 26 (2): 59–87. https://jambo.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_normal/abstracts/pdf/26-2/26-2-1.pdf.
Kabira, Wanjiku Mukabi, and Karega Mutahi. 1991. Gikuyu Oral Literature. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.
Kamera, W. D. 1996. Introduction to Traditional/Oral Literature IDE –ALL102. Kwaluseni: Institute of Distance Education, University of Eswatini.
Kamera, W. D. 2001. Swazi Oral Literature: An Introductory Survey. Manzini: Ruswanda Publishing.
Karenga, Maulana. 2008. Kawaida and Questions of Life and Struggle: African American, Pan African and Global Issues. Los Angeles, CA: University of Sankores Press.
Lusweti, B. M. 1984. The Hyena and the Rock: A Handbook of Oral Literature for Schools. Nairobi: Macmillan.
Madonsela, Stanley. 2020. “Riddles, Meanings and Cognitive Development of the African Child in the Swati Tradition.” African Journal of Rhetoric 12 (1): 42–62.
Makaudze, Godwin, and Enna Sukutai Gudhlanga. 2011. “Playing and Learning: The Interface between School and Leisure in Shona Riddles.” Mousaion 29 (3): 298–314.
Matsebula, J. S., D. K. Mlotshwa, J. M. Mlotshwa, and N. D. Ntiwane. 2016. The History of EmaSwati in South Africa. Mbombela: Mbokodo.
Miruka, Okumba. 1994. Encounter with Oral Literature. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.
Nayar, Pramod K. 2009. Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: From Structuralism to Ecocriticism. Delhi: Pearson Longman.
Noss, Philip A. 2006. “Gbaya Riddles in Changing Times.” Research in African Literatures 37 (2): 34–42. https://doi.org/10.2979/RAL.2006.37.2.34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ral.2006.0055
Okpewho, Isidor. 1992. African Oral Literature: Backgrounds, Character, and Continuity. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Oyewumi, Okerenke. 1997. The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
p’Bitek, Okot. 1986. Artist the Ruler: Essays on African Art, Culture and Values. Nairobi: Heinemann.
Pongweni, Alec J. C., and Emanuel M. Chiwome. 1995. Zvirahwe Zvakare neZvitsva: Traditional and Modern Shona Riddles. Eiffel Flats: Juta Zimbabwe.
Shuaibu, Garba. 2014. “Hausa Riddles and Games Pertinent to the Development of Mathematical Thinking: A Reconstruction Focus.” IOSR Journal of Mathematics 9 (4): 46–51. https://doi.org/10.9790/5728-0944651. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9790/5728-0944651
Smith, A. X. 2020. “Afrocentricity as the Organizing Principle for African Renaissance. Interview with Prof. Molefi Kete Asante, Temple University (USA).” Vestnik RUDN International Relations 20 (1): 210–17. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2020-20-1-210-217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2020-20-1-210-217
Sone, Enongene M. 2014. “Nature in Crisis: An Ecological Construction and Conservation of the Environment in Swazi Oral Literature.” South African Journal of African Languages 34 (2): 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2014.997056. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2014.997056
Sone, Enongene M. 2016. “Swazi Oral Literature, Eco-Culture and Environmental Apocalypse.” Southern African Journal of Folklore Studies 26 (1): 44–58. https://doi.org/10.25159/1016-8427/1264. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25159/1016-8427/1264
Vilakati, Thembi, and Thembekile Msibi. 2006. Giya Sigiye. Manzini: Macmillan Boleswa Publishers.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright will be vested in Unisa Press. However, as long as you do not use the article in ways which would directly conflict with the publisher's business interests, you retain the right to use your own article (provided you acknowledge the published version of the article) as follows:
- to make further copies of all or part of the published article for your use in classroom teaching;
- to make copies of the final accepted version of the article for internal distribution within your institution, or to place it on your own or your institution's website or repository, or on a site that does not charge for access to the article, but you must arrange not to make the final accepted version of the article available to the public until 18 months after the date of acceptance;
- to reuse all or part of this material in a compilation of your own works or in a textbook of which you are the author, or as the basis for a conference presentation.
Accepted 2023-03-01
Published 2023-03-20
